Matrix Portal no longer recognized

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mrchadwickusa
 
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Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

I bought a Matrix Portal in May 2022 and didn't get a chance to do much with it, other than hooking up a couple 16x32 Hub 75 panels and verifying that the pixel dust demo worked.

Yesterday I fired it up again, using Arduino 1.8.15 and modified the code of the demo to properly handle the 2 16x32 panels as one 32x32 display and that was working fine.

The last time I programmed it, I had changed the USB Stack "Arduino" to USB Stack "TinyUSB" for no good reason, just curiosity. It seems like after that was when I started having problems seeing the board. I started having issues after that getting it to download code from Arduino. Now when I plug it into my computer, I get: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43) A request for the USB device descriptor failed."

I since put the USB Stack back to "Arduino" but that didn't help, since I can't get it to program.

If I double hit the reset button I get the RED blink GREEN light on the neopixel, and a COM3 port showing up, and I can read the board info:
Arduino Settings.jpg
Arduino Settings.jpg (70.63 KiB) Viewed 199 times
BN: Adafruit Matrix Portal M4 (SAMD51)
VID: 239A
PID: 00C9
SN: A4CB4C4F533754484E202020FF193246

But I still can't program it. I also only occasionally see the MATRIXBOOT drive, and when I do, I can't copy or paste anything to it or from it. I tried going through the troubleshooting guide, and cleared all the old USB using DeviceCleanup, tried using BOSSA to talk to it and it hangs. Once it connected and I was able to press the READ button, but then it hung. I don't have any of the utilities that were mentioned as causing issues with the MATRIXBOOT driver showing up. Maybe I need to try rebooting in safe mode?

I tried Arduino 1.8.19, the latest, and Arduino 2.0 RC9.1 same results:

Arduino: 1.8.19 (Windows 10), Board: "Adafruit Matrix Portal M4 (SAMD51), Enabled, 120 MHz (standard), Small (-Os) (standard), 50 MHz (standard), Arduino, Off"
Sketch uses 39752 bytes (7%) of program storage space. Maximum is 507904 bytes.
Forcing reset using 1200bps open/close on port COM3
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}
PORTS {COM3, } / {COM3, } => {}

Uploading using selected port: COM3

C:\Users\MikeChadwick\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\adafruit\tools\bossac\1.8.0-48-gb176eee/bossac -i -d --port=COM3 -U -i --offset=0x4000 -w -v C:\Users\MIKECH~1\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_515304/pixeldust_long_matrix.ino.bin -R

No device found on COM3
Set binary mode
Send auto-baud
Set binary mode
An error occurred while uploading the sketch


Anything I can do to un-brick it? It still runs my modified pixel dust demo just fine on a normal reset.

Thanks for any assistance you can offer.
Mike Chadwick

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mrchadwickusa
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

The good news / bad news. I was able to access the MATRIXBOOT drive in safe mode, and copy over the file system reset program. After that I was able to update the boot loader to the latest one, and install circuit python. I can access that through a terminal program through the com port that appears. Still can't program it through Arduino though, even with the double hit reset, which does cause a different com port number to show up. Again, I can see the board info, but when I try to upload a sketch, it fails with no board seen on com6 in this case.

Progress though, I think I'll try using the storage.erase_filesystem() command and see what happens since I can get to the REPL through a terminal.

Mike Chadwick

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mrchadwickusa
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

Erasing the file system didn't seem to work. Circuit Python was still there. Oddly I ran the blink program, but in the serial terminal of Mu I get a continual reboot of the code, instead of a smooth blink repeat and printout.

Auto-reload is on. Simply save files over USB to run them or enter REPL to disable.
code.py output:
Hello, CircuitPython!

Code stopped by auto-reload. Reloading soon.

When this happens, the status led blinks GREEN and the whole cycle repeats, not at all what I was expecting from the tutorials. So something is still wonky on my board....

Mike Chadwick

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mrchadwickusa
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

I went through the troubleshooting guide and found the issue about code.py restarting continuously. The problem was that I have Acronis on my system, and their service "Acronis Managed Machine Service Mini" touches the drive at regular intervals. Once that service is disabled things behave as expected. It doesn't sound like that should have been causing the problem of Arduino not working, but maybe it buggered the memory clearing code. So I'll have to try that again and see if I can get the Arduino loader to operate again.

Mike Chadwick

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mrchadwickusa
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

I finally installed Arduino on a new laptop, still couldn't get it to program. I installed Bossa and tried that, and it was able to see the board and read the memory, all 512k ish. I was able to verify it as well. After that, Arduino was able to program it, but what I noticed, since I was trying to output some serial stuff, is that when the Arduino does it's force reset when trying to upload, by opening and closing the port at 1200 baud, the board switches ports. I get a different COM port when the status led is GREEN from when the board resets and runs the application. Very confusing... When the status led is GREEN, I get COM4. When I do a normal reset, I get COM3. I suspect that's what was hanging it up on my other computer.

Mike Chadwick

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mrchadwickusa
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:04 am

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by mrchadwickusa »

Hi All,

I tried it on the old laptop and it programs under Arduino just fine now. Doesn't change port numbers either. I'm puzzled but I've had enough sleuthing for one day.

Hopefully this exercise helps someone else that's having similar issues...

Mike Chadwick

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Franklin97355
 
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Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Matrix Portal no longer recognized

Post by Franklin97355 »

You might try closing the Arduino program and then delete the Arduino15 directory in Users\<user>\AppData\Local and start Arduino to let it repopulate the directory. Might help.

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